


In the army now

by The_Elister



Category: The Riyria Revelations - Michael J. Sullivan
Genre: DO I HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING MYSELF?!, Feelings Who?, Gen, Gift Fic, Hadrian in the army, Historical Inaccuracy, How does the army work?, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied/Referenced Prostitution, Military, Military Homophobia, Military Training, One Shot, Please let the formatting work, Pre The Crown Tower, Pre-Canon, Pseudo-History, Swearing, Vernes, Vernes would be better, What are emotions?, Wordcount: 100-1.000, Young Hadrian Blackwater, author is not an expert - please read this as fiction, fuckn MJS giving us no backround info, honestly it makes zero sense to have Ratibor as you capital, i guess?, i suck at remembering details, sorry if Haddy was canon first in another army
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:34:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22641103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Elister/pseuds/The_Elister
Summary: After the fight with his father, Hadrian enlists in the army.Basic training sucks.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 6





	In the army now

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Among_strange_lands](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Among_strange_lands/gifts).



> This work is gifted to Warrior18mia. You were faster than me, but here's your gift that I've been working on for some time because I can't finish things. Yeah lol look what i did. All the historical stuff I got from these:  
> https://www.thefinertimes.com/Middle-Ages/military-in-the-middle-ages.html  
> https://nobility-association.com/royalandnobleranks.htm  
> https://www.warhistoryonline.com/medieval/8-ways-soldiers-recruited-medieval-england.html  
> also @MJS I explain in the fic anyway why Vernes (or even Kilnar) would be a better capital than Ratibor. But the worst problem is... if a King has a army... I guess it will most likely be stationed in the capital from time to time (provided it's always active)... and the BD (and Royce) are in Ratibor as wel... YOU THINK THEY WOULDN'T HAVE NOTICED A 2m-Teshlor WITH THREE SWORDS RUNNING AROUND THE CITY?!!?!?  
> AND EVEN IF THE STATION WAS OUT OF TOWN... YOU THINK THE BD WOULDN'T HAVE SPIES IN ANY ARMY ANYWAY?!?!

Two swords packed tightly in his backpack along with other necessities and one sword at his hip, Hadrian made his way out into the world.

It was the day after the fight with his father, the night he had slept besides the street and now he was on his way again.

His plan was to travel to Natir, the city at the bifurcation of the Bernum River where it branched off towards Hintindar.

Had it been possible, he would have caught a boat back in Hintindar and traveled upstream from there. Unfortunately, the next boat most likely would take it’s time to arrive and he wouldn’t be able to wait a moment longer.

And since he didn’t know what the future would bring, it was wiser to save his money anyway.

From Natir it was his plan to catch a boat to Vernes, where he wanted to enlist in King Urith’s army.

It was one of the only armies in Rhenyyd that was constantly ready for battle. And it needed to be. Rhenyyd was surrounded by other kingdoms on all four fronts, it wouldn't do to just send some farmers there. No, if the others decided to unite then their only chance was to have the better trained soldiers.

There were some margraves and dukes that also had a constant defense readied but it was said that the Royal Army paid the best.

Another benefit of the Royal Army was the fact that even in times of total peace there would be work, seeing as soldier would also reinforce the city guard of Vernes.

Thank Mar that Vernes was such a wealthy city and could afford it.

Its location at the delta of the Bernum River and its connection to the Ghazel Sea made for ideal trade routes. It was a mystery why King Urith still hadn’t renamed Vernes as the new capital instead of Ratibor.

From the aspect of military tactics, Vernes was also the best possible choice – hence the garrison of the Royal Army. The continued fjord of the Ghazel Sea and of course the Bernum River and all of its side arms ensured fast troop transport.

Hadrian was in a good mood; the future would be bright.

.

.

.

He had gotten a passage on a ship the day he arrived in Natir and just had to pass a few hours in city until the ship set sail.

Most of the time he stood around on deck and watched the landscape move by.

It had taken them a week to reach the delta but he still had arrived just in time to enlist in this year’s basic training.

.

.

.

Basic training was not what it was made out to be.

Most of the time they did push-ups, crawled around in the mud, jogged around the castle walls, practiced marching in step, or listened to Captain Perrlow screaming at them while keeping a straight face.

When after three months it had been decided that they could manage these things, reading and fighting lessons were added.

“You need to be able to read the orders given to you!”, Captain Perrlow shouted, not that they had asked. If anything, the reading lessons were a nice break from the mud-crawling and circle-running. Hadrian also enjoyed the possibility to get more fluent at reading.

The fighting lessons were less fun.

Not to get him wrong, Hadrian enjoyed practicing his skills with spears, which he had done before, but which hadn’t been the main focus of his training with his father - no can't sink of him, that old...

This led to him actually learning new moves from some of the others – their mean fighting style most likely came from town festivals where it could easily happen that one farmer’s pitchfork was jabbed into the other’s direction.

The sword fighting lessons though were downright annoying. He was the only one who seemingly had held a sword before and therefor the instructor always called upon him if he wanted to show them a new move. And when doing practice fights between them soldiers, Hadrian was the only one who had to go against several different opponents in a row because the others were already exhausted after a single round.

The worst thing about everything though was the free time.

Then, in every single moment, Hadrian’s thoughts seemed to stray back to his argument with his father, trying to find possible explanations why he wouldn’t want Hadrian to be here, replaying his insults and wondering what his father thought of him now.

.

.

.

There were words carved into the wooden bords that made up the walls of their barrack.

Dates and names, declarations of love, life advise and the classic “I fucked your mother here” were written over his cot.

Add to that the inscriptions “Perrlow sucks cock”, “Perrlow can go kill himself”, “Gertrude does it for two copper” and “The food is shit” and you had all the vocabulary Hadrian needed for day-to-day conversation.

.

.

.

The final test of their basic training was to take place in a forest a few miles outside of Vernes. There they would apply all their knowledge of the past six months in a simulation of an enemy ambush.

Now, past midnight, they were lying on a hill in the forest, looking down onto a sleeping village.

Captain Perrlow quietly called out. “Alright, down there is the enemy- “

A voice to Hadrian’s left piped up. “That’s not the enemy! That’s Bortika, my uncle lives there!"


End file.
